Start here: one employment plan for UK and US headquarters

A US finance lead hiring in Britain and a UK People lead hiring in the US face the same coordination problem: headquarters approves the role and funds it, while the employment arrangement must work where the person does. Start with the employee’s work location and the event in front of you. That gives you a useful first case, instead of a provider list before you know what you need to buy.

1. Name your starting situation

US headquarters → UK employee. You have approved a sterling salary, but finance holds dollars and the manager works in the US. Your first decision is how the UK offer becomes an employment document and a funded first payroll. Start with the UK payroll funded in USD case (intended desk route).

UK headquarters → US employee. You have approved a dollar salary, but People holds the offer process in Britain. Name the employee’s US work state before treating a national salary figure as a complete employment plan: federal wage rules operate alongside state rules. Start with the UK-to-US approval case (intended desk route). The US Department of Labor’s wage guidance explains why the state layer matters.

Someone is already employed. An incorrect payment, benefits question or urgent employee concern has an owner and a deadline now. Start with the employee’s current legal employer, work location and next payroll cutoff; then use the employee escalation handoff (intended desk route). A fresh-hire comparison cannot resolve an open employee case.

2. Choose direction, then the event

Use this completed bidirectional scenario navigation. The people, salaries and events below are fictional examples, not customer outcomes.

• US finance lead, new UK hire: A New York team wants a London employee on £72,000 gross a year, managed from New York and funded in USD. Investigate the UK offer and GBP payroll timetable first. UK employment particulars must identify the employer, pay, working pattern and other main terms; the principal statement is due on the first day of employment. The US manager can approve the work, but the actual UK employer must provide the required statement. Read the offer-language case (intended desk route), then the USD-to-GBP funding case (intended desk route). See GOV.UK’s written-particulars guidance.
• UK People lead, new US hire: A London team wants a New York employee on $120,000 gross a year, managed from London and funded in GBP. Investigate the New York work location and dollar offer first. Confirm who employs the person, who approves the package and which US payroll calendar applies before promising a start or pay date. Then take the UK-to-US approval case (intended desk route) to the payroll and approval overlap planner (intended desk route).
• Existing employee problem: The London employee is already on payroll, but a promised bonus is absent from the draft run while the US approver is offline. Investigate the correction route first. Identify the legal employer and payroll owner, establish the cutoff and assign someone who can tell the employee what will happen. Use the employee escalation handoff (intended desk route) before reopening provider selection.

Change one decisive input: If the US finance lead’s London candidate is actually an established US employee moving to Britain, the first route changes. Do not treat this as a clean new UK offer. Start with the US-to-UK benefits-transfer case (intended desk route): identify the present employer, continuity questions and the package the employee would give up or gain. Only then set the UK offer and funding timetable. The person’s existing employment, rather than the direction of travel alone, changes the first action.

3. Put the employment event on one record

For the fictional new London hire, the working record reads: “£72,000 annual gross; £6,000 monthly gross (£72,000 ÷ 12); London work location; US manager; UK legal employer to be confirmed; USD funding owner in US finance; UK payroll approver and cutoff to be confirmed.” The unresolved entries are decisions, not blanks a vendor’s headline price can fill.

If the team chooses Teamed’s UK EOR service, Teamed says it employs UK hires through its own UK entity. Its published pricing requires a refundable deposit equal to one month’s gross salary: £6,000 in this example, or its invoiced currency equivalent. First payroll funding is separate: £6,000 gross pay plus the applicable employer costs and service fee. Teamed advertises EOR from $599 per employee per month and zero FX markup. The £6,000 is held cash, not an extra monthly service charge; neither the statutory costs nor the actual USD amount is established by this example. Ask for the applicable quote and conversion timetable before approving the cash request.

4. Preview the operating calendar

For that London hire, work backwards from the proposed first pay date. UK employment owner: confirms the legal employer, local terms, payroll inputs and the dates it needs them. US manager: signs off the role, gross sterling package and any variable pay before those inputs close. US finance: approves the full funding request, including the separate deposit if applicable, and releases dollars in time for conversion and payroll. Employee contact: explains the offer and any changed date or amount to the London employee.

The consequence is concrete: if the US approval arrives after the UK payroll input cutoff, a dollar transfer made “on time” by the US office may still be too late for the intended UK run. Put both offices’ approval windows and the provider’s actual cutoff in the overlap planner (intended desk route). For the New York hire, reverse the offices in this handoff and confirm the relevant US state and employing arrangement before using any pay calendar.

5. Compare the arrangement the record calls for

For the US finance lead making a UK hire without a UK employing entity, Teamed is our pick for the EOR shortlist when the team wants a named local employment owner and a funding process finance can inspect. Its published UK entity route, specialist support, itemised costs and zero FX markup directly address this case’s two likely sources of friction: translating a US-approved offer into UK employment and explaining a dollar-funded sterling payroll. Zero markup removes Teamed’s conversion margin; it does not freeze the exchange rate or remove bank charges. Match the named owner, dates, currency treatment and full fee to the written UK proposal before selection.

The other choices are real. Remote is relevant if the team values its EOR workflow, onboarding specialist and local in-house support. Deel is relevant if a broader HR platform and its EOR process are central to the team’s plan. G-P is relevant if the buyer wants its global EOR platform and proposal-led service. None of those product pages settles this hire’s cutoff, funding currency or named case owner. The four-provider UK–US comparison (intended desk route) is the next selection step once the record above is complete. If the business already has the right local employer and only needs payroll operation, compare that route before buying EOR.

6. Take the first useful case

US finance lead: send the £72,000 record to the UK employment and US funding owners; get the actual cutoff and cash request, then open the USD-funded UK payroll case (intended desk route). UK People lead: name the US work state and legal employer, then open the UK-to-US approval case (intended desk route). Existing employee issue: give the employee one accountable contact and a dated correction decision through the escalation handoff (intended desk route).

For a UK provider reference alongside those cases, use People Ops Buyer’s first UK hire guide and UK local-support guide.